


Safe Scare (BMCAWT Week #4)

by HeereandThere



Series: BMCA Writing Team Works! [3]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Fake Gore, Gore, Haunted Houses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 11:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16325510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeereandThere/pseuds/HeereandThere
Summary: ((PROMPT: Willpower))Jeremy and Christine celebrate Halloween by going to a local haunted house. There's only one problem: Jeremy's terrified of just that.





	Safe Scare (BMCAWT Week #4)

**Author's Note:**

> I wound up skipping week 3 because I had little to no ideas that I liked, and even when I had a good one, I had difficulty getting it on paper. But here I am, back again for week 4! I'm sorry it was late, but I didn't get it finished before I went on vacation and it wound up a LOT longer than I originally intended for it to be.
> 
> Also, this is based on my own experiences with haunted houses! I'm a bundle of raw nerves whenever I go to participate in one of these and waiting in the line is less than fun because anticipation gets me SUPER anxious. Still, once you get inside, it's a blast.

"OH, FUCK!" Jeremy's voice raised several octaves and the words blurred into a shriek that drew laughter and noises of surprise from the other people nearby. Christine screamed, as well, but at a much lesser volume, and both teens whirled around to face a familiar horror movie icon wielding a knife that they knew was fake, but looked surprisingly real. The figure had roughly grabbed Jeremy by the shoulder only seconds before and incited the panic, and he was still extremely menacing despite his unimpressive build and stature.

Jeremy shrank, tensing his shoulders and bending his knees slightly as the masked man leaned in close and whispered something muffled in his ear: "You scream like a fucking goat."

Jeremy blinked absently and had to reassure himself that his ears had not deceived him, not only because this was such an odd thing for a creature of the night to utter, but also because the voice seemed strangely familiar. He hesitantly gazed into the gaunt eyes of the deteriorating mask and essentially spitballed, muttering the name on his mind. "... Michael?"

The costumed person removed himself from Jeremy's personal space and, by the way he was now carrying himself, he had quickly made the decision to shrug off the act. "Michael Myers? Yes. Michael Mell?" He ripped off the mask triumphantly like a prince removing his helmet, but instead of dashing royalty, there stood a teenage boy with mischievious brown eyes and several strands of hair sticking to his sweaty skin. "Also yes."

Instinctively, Jeremy punched Michael in the chest, not hard enough to do any damage but definitely enough to get a pained sound out of him. "Not funny!" he hollered as Christine snickered, but only a little; she didn't want to make light of someone else's pain, but he did have it coming, if only a small bit.

"Hey, no hitting the actors!" Michael yelped.

"No scaring the shit out of your friends!" Jeremy bit back.

"Where's Jenna?" Christine chirped once she had calculated a conversational path that would take a detour from "friendly argument".

Michael huffed and massaged his chest where he had been hit. "I think her break ended a few minutes ago. She's probably back inside by now."

"Shoot. I wanted to see her costume in good light."

"Oh, you'll be able to see it well enough. She's, like, front and center in her room. Right up in your face. And I'm 99% sure she's planning on targeting one of you; she seemed really excited when I told her you were gonna be here."

"Her Instagram pictures really got me excited, so I HOPE she comes at me! She looks spooky~!" Christine waved her hands in a motion that was intended to indicate something, well, spooky, but it was more adorable than frightening.

"What is it?" Jeremy chimed in, his voice cracking slightly in anticipation. "I don't have an Instagram."

"It's like, this weird doll thing because, y'know, every haunted house needs one," Christine explained, "but it's a lot more impressive than the others I've seen around here. It's really freaky looking; I got chills just seeing it online!" She giggled excitedly and shivered, but whatever Jeremy had of a smile abruptly faded away. He should have been thrilled by the prospect of a haunted attraction like his friends, especially since he would be encountering familiar faces inside, but he instead had a sinking feeling, the one he developed whenever he felt anxious, frightened, or an unholy combination of both. All that was on his mind was that he hated haunted houses with every fiber of his being.

Being abnormally finicky and panic-ridden, the idea of participating in the spookier end of the Halloween activities spectrum was anything but appealing. He preferred the safety of his festively decorated home or the comforts of Michael's basement to the utterly chaotic outside world, the company of a friend and some horror-movies-that-weren't-really-horror-movies to the costumed strangers that enjoyed breaching your comfort zone and screaming in your ear. The year prior was really the first time he had partaken in Halloween festivities of any sort for the first time since he was still considered young enough to trick-or-treat and, after the night he had, his Halloweens of intense partying were through. This was also going to mean that his Halloweens of any kind of special activity were over, as well, but once the air cooled and the leaves turned, he found himself faced with a dilemna: hole himself up in his room marathoning Tim Burton movies or make his girlfriend happy?

Well, from the moment Christine offhandedly mentioned her affinity for haunted houses and the fact that she had no one to go with that year, the answer was clear. Not only would he have taken a personal grudge against himself for even considering disappointing one of his favorite people, but he would also have the regret of avoiding something fun because he was a coward hanging over his head for the rest of his life. Besides, he had witnessed what was almost the literal end of the world; how bad could the safe scares within the sizeable home be? Still, his heart continued to pound in his chest as the line to the inside kept getting shorter and shorter and they kept getting closer and closer to the front.

"This year's the best," someone nearby gushed to their friends. "They went all out on EVERYTHING. Makeup, decorations, costuming, acting... It's, like, horror movie caliber shit in there." Jeremy shuddered.

"I'm still pissed that you're the one he finally came to one of these with," Michael remarked. "I've been trying to get him to for YEARS, but nooooo. Michael's not good enough for him. Guess he just loves you more than me." He pouted and put on his trademark puppy eyes to further emphasize his already overexaggerated hurt as he gazed pathetically over at Jeremy, who was instead intently focused on the people ahead of him. "Ouch. I was just kidding."

Christine furrowed her brow and gently tapped Jeremy on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Jeremy tensed at the touch and turned on his heel to meet his girlfriend's worried eyes with his wide ones, but he shrugged it off as if it were nothing. No disappointment. "Hmm? Yeah, no, I'm cool! Everything's cool. Chill."

Michael glared at him skeptically. "Really? Because you're acting like something's up."

"Nothing's up. You're imagining things." Jeremy tried to act nonchalant but, as it always was, the effort was an absolute failure; his expression was one that bordered horror and he moved his arms in ways that were supposed to be calm gestures but were closer to awkward flailing. His voice was higher than normal, as well, which was a dead giveaway that he wasn't letting something on.

"Look, Jeremy," began Christine, "if you don't want to do this, I totally get it! This kind of stuff isn't for everyone and there's always next year! It's not the end of the world if we don't do one stupid haunted house."

"No, no, it's not stupid! And I want to! It's just... a little nervewracking, is all. I'm fine."

"You promise?"

"... Okay. But you have to swear to tell me if you're having second thoughts! I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to."

"You're not making me do anything."

"You know what I mean, Jeremy."

"Okay, I do. And I swear on... on 'Half Life 3' to let you know if I don't want to do this."

Christine's adorable smile returned in an instant. "Good. Because I want us both to have fun." She tenderly took his hand and he shivered in a good way for the first time that night, that familiar warm and fuzzy sensation of security warming his body and fighting back against the biting autumn cold. He couldn't have picked a better person to experience this with; Michael would have mocked him the entire time and his dad would have been just as anxious as he was, but Christine was still as sweet and composed ad ever.

"Yo, Mike, you keepin' an eye on the time?" Jeremy jumped; the person speaking was in charge of allowing access to the building, and the teen neither expected him to speak nor realized how close they were to the entrance. Only three people were ahead of them, and it was likely that they would all be herded together inside as one group.

"Uhhhh... Yeeeees?" Michael leaned in close to the two lovebirds and whispered harshly. "What time is it?"

It took a ridiculous amount of restraint for both Christine and Jeremy not to respond with "Showtime!" as they instead removed their phones from their pockets and read off the time, Christine with 9:16 and Jeremy with 9:17.

"Crap! I was supposed to be inside 7 minutes ago-"

"Mm-hmm," hummed the Admittance man with somehow sarcastic apathy. "You might wanna get back in there or J-"

"Joe'll have my head. I know, I know!" Michael slid his mask back on and haphazardly waved goodbye to his friends as he took off towards a back entrance.

The man at the head of the line turned his attention to the three kids before him and shook his head ashamedly while chuckling slightly. "He's a good kid, but he's gotta learn to keep his head on straight."

"That's gonna be harder than you think," Jeremy quietly quipped. Christine snickered and elbowed him in the side. They both knew that Michael would be proud if he had been there to witness the joke.

"Okay! So I've got three in front, here. How many behind them?"

"Two!" Christine announced.

"And behind them?"

"Three!" responded a girl behind them.

"So that makes eight! Perfect. I... think they're just about ready for you. Just head inside and stay in the first room. They're just gonna cover some basic rules."

One of the people in front, the only girl in the group, calmly and considerately raised her hand. "Actually, we're just two." She pointed at herself and one of the boys next to her, who rolled his eyes and huffed irritably.

"I- No, no, we're still three-" The group's third attempted to counteract the statement with one of his own, but stumbled over his words and was hurriedly shut down, nonetheless.

"Evan, you already look really freaked out. I don't want you having a panic attack in the middle of a haunted house. Once you're in, you can't get out." Evan considered protesting once more, but it didn't take much at all for him to secede. Jeremy envied his ability to give in; things weren't so simple for him, anymore, not since the squip.

The gatekeeper nodded thoughtfully. "Cool, cool. Understandable. But, uh, do we have any groups of one back there? Anyone at all?" Another young woman came forth with a wide smile and her hand raised.

"Um... Hi! I'm a group of one!"

"Alright! Love the enthusiasm! You'll be with these people here. Now! Go inside, learn rules, make it out alive. Get it? Got it? Good. Have fun~" The final tidbit was delivered with what should have been an ominous tone, but came out with more of a sadistically gleeful flair.

The haunted house wasn't exactly built like a home, despite it falling under the general term; it was housed inside what used to be a school nestled in the Metuchen suburbs, so the layout was similar thanks to manual alterations, but still different from a haunt residing in an actual home. Rather than a living room, the entrance opened up into a sizeable room constructed from walls that were destroyed and built onto the initial entryway and the principal's office. It didn't even have a central theme; those in charge just put an array of seats together, surrounded by the spookiest, most realistic, and most gruesome decorations their budget could purchase. Chain link fences stretched up the darkly painted walls, leaving only the door to the haunt itself uncovered, and they had bones, intestines, and signs of caution covering most of the empty space in them.

As the crew took their seats beneath a massive replica (or what Jeremy hoped was a replica) of a bull's skull, Jeremy's ears tuned into a nearby conversation between the trio from the line. The girl was voicing some reasonable concerns that could only come from someone who had never experienced a haunted house and was still not entirely sure of the concept.

"I still don't understand why it has to be so violent! I thought we were supposed to be against that!"

"Well, none of it's real, Naba, see?" The lankier of the two men with her reached an arm behind him and gently squeezed one of the guts strung up to indicate that it was nothing more than rubber and paint. "No one's supposed to get hurt in these things." The woman nodded sagely, but uncertainly. The second man laughed obnoxiously and, when he spoke, there was an anxious, razor sharp edge to his tone.

"YEAH, IT'S PERFECTLY SAFE."

"Are you still okay to do it? Do we need to leave?"

"No, I still want to do it. I just have to remember it's not real."

"Okay, good." The man looked down to address his companion with a more stressed face than what he used on the third. "See, Arnold? Nabalungi's doing it. There's nothing to be afraid of. Now, can you PLEASE let go of my arm?"

_I just have to remember it's not real._

_There's nothing to be afraid of._

_It's all fake._

_Don't be afraid._

_Don't. Be. Afraid._

_God, I'm terrified._

A woman's voice came from a side door that Jeremy hadn't noticed as she came rushing in. Her clothes were that of a pedestrian's, but her face was painted as though a zipper were tearing her skin apart. "Sorry I took a bit longer than expected! There was a small problem with the last group. Just a couple of casualties, nothing huge." Laughter both nervous and lighthearted emanated from the people before her. "Now, I'll be your guide tonight so no one gets lost. But first, I'm gonna cover some ground rules. First, the actors are allowed to touch you, but nothing more than a rough grab or moderate tug. If they do any more and/or what they do hurts you, feel free to tell myself or another crew member and we'll get it all straightened out..." She went off and gave a brief spiel on how you shouldn't touch the actors in turn, mess with or steal any of the props, or go through the backstage doors and how you should know that the place contains gore, strobe lights, violence, and spooks that would affect people with heart conditions. "I think that just about covers it, and I also think they're ready for you guys, so let's go!" She summoned them with a wave of her hand and they all rose, following her through the large double doors that led into a narrow hall. Jeremy squeezed Christine's hand tightly and she looked up at him with wary eyes, but said nothing.

The sliver of a room before them could contain only a single-file line, with the guide leading the way and being followed by the rest in the order of the single woman, Christine, Jeremy, the seemingly bravest of the group of three, Nabalungi, Arnold, Evan's girl friend, and Evan's guy friend. The walls of the hallway were makeshift, composed of plastic piping and black garbage bags. Jeremy's heart was prematurely pounding at the menacing sight but, surprisingly, he was not the first to be spooked.

"Oh, I'm sooooo scared," remarked the man in the back. "A dark hallway. My worst nightmare."

"Come on, Jared, can't you at least make it past the first room before you break out the sarcasm?"

"Nope, and I'm not putting it away until I get what I paid fOR-" Jared's tone quickly rose into a shriek oddly similar to Jeremy's and he reflexively arched his back. "What just touched me? What the FUCK just touched me?!"

Everyone else felt the contact shortly thereafter as yelps and screams sounded out from the group. Christine jumped and flailed her arms when an unseen hand reached underneath the flimsy wall and brushed her ankle, while Jeremy shied away from the person who caressed his arm only for his leg to be prodded by someone on the opposite side.

There was a mad dash to escape the hallway, courtesy of the unwelcome touch, and the small crowd spilled out into a gory kitchen scene. There were signs of a make-believe struggle present; food items and kitchen tools littered the floor, drawers were pulled out, shelves had been broken, the fridge was wide open, and two of the dinner table's chairs were toppled over. Blood splatters covered the wall and floor, and the various body parts of a once clean-cut man were set out on the table as though it were your average family dinner. A woman stood at the stove in a flowing dress that gave her the appearance of a 50s housewife, but she soon turned around to reveal that she, too, had a copious amount of blood on her. There was a pan on the stove with a hand in it, and she wielded a bloody knife.

"Guests?" she cooed, shocked. "Oh, if I had only known! I would have cleaned up a bit. I'm so sorry about the mess!"

"It's fine! We're just passing through ma'am!"

Jeremy looked at his girlfriend like she had just brutally murdered someone before his very eyes because that right there was how you attracted an actor's attention. She offered a side-glance that told him this was intentional. This crazy girl wanted to be scared.

"No, no, no! You MUST stay! We're having cheating man-whore- I mean, Alan, for- OVER for dinner." She paused for a moment and scrutinized Christine, scanning her from head to toe. Satisfied, she smiled gently and put a tender hand on the innocent's cheek. "You know, you remind me so much of my daughter. Well, when she was younger. Of course, I wouldn't know what she's like now. She left home and hasn't called me, not once, since she went off. If only she would give me a cha- Hey, wait! Where're you going?"

Everyone was ushering them forth from behind and the woman looked genuinely hurt by their sudden departure.

"Wha- No! Don't leave! Please, don't leave!" She desperately grabbed Christine's arm and gained a scream while she attempted to pull her back and, when that effort didn't succeed, she was quick to go after Jeremy. "DON'T LEAVE!!"

"CHRIS, HELP-" Jeremy pleaded while reaching out to Christine, but she just stood barely out of arms' reach and found humor in his terror. "I WOULD VERY MUCH SO LIKE TO GO-"

"NO!"

Thanks to his scrappy nature, Jeremy was able to worm out of the grasp before the woman was prepared to let go, drawing a cry of anguish from her and a horrified screech from himself. His assailant sank to her knees and instead decided to grab at Jared and his friend's ankles.

Jeremy grabbed at his chest and took several deep breaths while Christine just walked by him cockily; he could tell by the glint in her eye that, she being emotionally intelligent and he so terrible at concealing his feelings, she had caught onto his little white lie and was punishing him for having broken his promise so soon. He was more than prepared to retaliate with a few choice words, but instead he caught himself... laughing. Maybe it was the relief that he wasn't dead, maybe he actually had sort of enjoyed the first leg of the journey, but he ran an anxious hand through his hair and just laughed at his own stupid fears.

"Are you okay?" Christine harshly whispered.

"I am... so incredibly stressed right now," Jeremy honestly responded, shaking but smiling.

And this was how the rest of the evening went, with pent-up anxiety bubbling until it was released by a jumpscare that incited shaky laughter, Jeremy knocking over a table after they quickly discovered he was easily disoriented by strobe lights, and hefty horrific attacks from both friends and strangers. Jeremy actually discovered himself loving it all and doing it with Christine certainly didn't hurt. He was genuinely glad that he had decided to force himself to go through with it; it was a new experience, and it had worked out for him.

As they walked out with exasperated grins, Christine eyed him expectantly. "So... Would you maaaaybe be interested in checking the place out across town?"

"... Fine."


End file.
